Monopolistic Grasping

[Fibonacci]

  Long time lurker and avid Centauri Monopoly player here.
I've been reading up on the benefits of mineral based economies in the early game and transitioning to energy based economics in the mid to late game. I've seen less about using your economic bonus to boost the nutrient side of the game. In particular hastening early base growth if you have spare credits.

Rush buying a colony pod in a base with 1 population either uproots your base or wastes production until it reaches 2 population. However things are a little different in a size 2 or larger base. After entering the last row of nutrients in a size 2 or larger base, rush buying a colony pod reduces the base size by one, and then it immediately grows back to the previous size, empties the nutrients collected, and then proceeds to gain a new turn worth of nutrients.

Essentially you are able to rush buy your way through the last row of a size 2 city, trading energy credits for your choice of reaching size 3 population or having a colony pod headed off to start your next base at the same rate of nutrient gathering going from size 1 to size 2, as size 2 to the last row of size 2.

As Morgan on Transcend difficulty, with his inclination to run Free Market early and often, getting the productive use out of a second worker isn't just a matter of keeping a military unit at home.

You either need to figure out which of the following is most effective for you:
1) No tech required, allocate enough energy to make a citizen into a talent to offset the drone that will be accompanying them.
2) If you've managed to acquire Biogenetics, and you've been lucky with alien artifacts, make the Human Genome Project.
3) If you've managed to acquire Social Psych, a Recreation Commons gives you the option to have your colony pod build right back into the city. Obtaining base size 3 a few turns sooner may be the best option if you're stuck on a smallish island, only have underdeveloped squares to found your next base, are hitting the next efficiency limit on number of bases, you've already got bases in the surrounding tiles, or you want to be able force a golden age for a pop-boom as Morgan.

If anyone else uses this method, has improvements, or alternatives that work better I'd love to hear your input.

[bvanevery]

I've been reading up on the benefits of mineral based economies in the early game and transitioning to energy based economics in the mid to late game.

There's some kind of debate here?  Minerals win advantages.  I don't see any downside.

PLANT FORESTS ON FLAT TERRAIN.  That's your ticket to early productivity.

Especially, if you put a base down on flat ground that has a nutrient bonus, you will have enough food to sustain several forests.  This will yield you a lot of minerals.  Enough to build secret projects with.  Enough to invade factions with.  It's as good as finding a minerals deposit on rocky terrain and mining it.

If you find minerals on flat ground, you can plant a forest on it.  You will get a 1-4-1 tile.  This is better than what you'll get from mining it.  You may not get food, you won't get energy.

If you find nutrients on flat ground, and you don't want to put a base on it for some reason (too close / far, doesn't fit, already built the base and popped the pod later) you can plant a forest on it.  You will get a 3-2-1 tile, which is a very good thing to have for your base.  You can bang out a lot of colony pods with a base like that.

Overall I would say this entire discussion is superceded by the judicuous use of early game resource specials.  If you aren't maximizing your resource specials, you are either very unlucky or doing something wrong.

Rush buying a colony pod in a base with 1 population either uproots your base or wastes production until it reaches 2 population.

In the earliest part of the game, banging out your first few colonies as fast as possible, yields overwhelming long term advantages.  This is true in every Civ game I've played, including SMAC/X.  If you dink around with things like recycling tanks, or granaries in other Civs, you are not going to be as powerful early on as you could have been.  If you build your bases too "vertical" early on, you're going to be a weakling.

Once you've got a good smattering of bases, it may not matter as much.  Whether you've secured a big beefy mineral deposit, by one of the methods outlined above, is probably more important.  Gotta get a secret project and/or an invasion force going.